The amazing adventures of Doug Hughes

I was challenged recently to write a Java method that could validate whether a provided number was “perfect” or not. A perfect number is one where the sum of its divisors (excluding itself) add up to the number. For example, 28 is a perfect number because it’s divisors are: 1, 2, 4, 7, and 14. If you add these up you get 28, the original number.

However, consider 16. It’s divisors are: 1, 2, 4, 4, and 8. If you add these up you get 19. Therefore, 16 is not perfect.

This calculation was to be done via a static method that accepted an argument num. The method was to return a boolean indicating whether the number provided was perfect or not.

My first attempt was naive. I stared by using a for loop to loop backwards from one less than the number being tested to 1. I tested each step to determine if the number was divisible by the step. If so, I collected both numbers into a tuple which I collected into a HashSet to remove duplicates. I then iterated over the set and summed the values in the tuple and added 1. It worked, but was considerably inefficient.

It was pointed out to me that, because I was looping backwards, I was doing two times the amount of work needed. If I looped forward to half the number being tested I could simply create a sum of the valid divisors. Understanding this, I decided to try a few other approaches…

First, I wanted to see if I could make a one-line solution to this puzzle. In particular, I wanted to experiment with streams of numbers in Java. My first attempt used a stream of integers. I reduced this to those which were valid divisors of the number being tested and summed the resulting set. If this was equal to the number, the validation passed. If not, it didn’t. This is the code:

Mission accomplished! It’s one (wrapped) line of code. However, this led me to wonder if I could parallelize this. So, my next test was to make a parallel stream of numbers that I then filtered to those that cleanly divided the number being tested. I then summed these, checked for equality to the original number, and returned that.

This success made me wonder how much (if at all) more efficient this method was than my first attempt. I wrote tests for the first six perfect numbers and found that the sixth one, 8,589,869,056, took quite a while to process. My first attempt with reduceIsPerfect() took about 45 secs to validate. My second attempt, parallelFilteredIsPerfect() took 23 seconds, so it was about two times faster. But, this left a bad taste in my mouth. 23 seconds is a really long time.

I tried a few other approaches, but found that, in general, most of my attempts tested in the 45 to 50 second range, which was disappointing.

So, next, I did what any good programmer would do, I turned to Google. I reasoned that the part of the process that takes the most time is determining if a number is a divisor or not. Google led me to a more efficient algorithm.

The way I was testing for perfection was by looping from 1 to half the number being tested. At each step I tested to see if the number could be divided cleanly. For example, with 28 I was doing this:

Start with a sum of 0. Loop from 1 to 14 (inclusive).

28 % 1. Yes! Add 1 to sum. sum is now 1.

28 % 2. Yes! Add 2 to sum. sum is now 3.

28 % 3. No!

28 % 4. Yes! Add 4 to sum. sum is now 7.

28 % 5. No!

28 % 6. No!

28 % 7. Yes! Add 7 to sum. sum is now 14.

28 % 8. No!

28 % 9. No!

28 % 10. No!

28 % 11. No!

28 % 12. No!

28 % 13. No!

28 % 14. Yes! Add 14 to sum. sum is now 28.

So, 28 is perfect.

But, Google pointed out to me that half of this information is already known by the time I calculate it. The divisors are 1, 2, 4, 7, 14, 28. As soon as I discover 1 I can quickly determine that it’s paired with 28. 2 is paired with 14, and 4 with 7. I don’t need to continue working at all once I’ve gone to 4! This is less than the square root of 28, 5.291502622129181.

So, if I loop from 1 to the square root of the number being tested, I can just take the number being tested as well as it’s paired divisor at the same time. Add these to the sum and I’m in business:

Start with a sum of 1. Loop from 2 to the square root of 28 (rounded down to 5) (inclusive).

And viola, my test of 8,589,869,056 went from taking 23 seconds to 3 milliseconds!! After all, rather than looping from 1 to 4294934528 and testing each step along the way, I am now looping from 2 to 92681! This is significantly less work.

And so, I’m fairly happy with the result. That, and, after all that, it’s just one line of code.

This is an article I wrote for my Java class at The Iron Yard. It’s being published here with permission.

Writing Software in Java

To write a program is to “speak” in a language a computer can understand. We don’t actually “speak” to a computer, but we can write messages that it can understand. These words aren’t in a natural language, though. Instead, they’re in a programming language.

My class at The Iron Yard is primarily about the programming language Java. Java is just one of hundreds of programming languages, but it has the distinction of being the most popular.

To a fresh eye, programming languages often look like gibberish. For example:

This is an article I wrote for my Java class at The Iron Yard. It’s being published here with permission.

Getting help

Often you will run into problems where your debugging strategies just don’t give you anything useful to work with. In these cases, you have to turn to other resources.

Craft a good question

The first step in getting help is to figure out the correct question to ask. Vague questions don’t lead to specific answers.

Instead of saying “when I click this button, it doesn’t work,” explain what you hoped it would do and what it actually does. To do this, you have to understand what it is you’re actually trying to accomplish. It might be a surprise to realize that sometimes you don’t know this. Read the rest of this entry »

This is an article I wrote for my Java class at The Iron Yard. It’s being published here with permission.

If debugging is the process of removing bugs from code, then what is programming?

Undoubtably you’ve already run into a few bugs in your code. Figuring out the cause of these problems can be a frustrating and tedious experience. But, it can also be incredibly rewarding. There’s nothing quite like the feeling of finally squashing a particularly challenging bug.

As a professional programmer, you’ll be spending most of your time debugging. It’s virtually impossible to write code that works perfectly the first time. In fact, code that appears to work correctly on the first test will probably start to set off your mental alarm bells. The worry being, “what am I missing?!” Read the rest of this entry »

I heard that someone going by the name of Doug Hughes landed a gyrocopter on the lawn of the capitol building in DC. Sorry, but I am not that Doug Hughes.

It’s been fun and amusing to receive calls of support for the other Doug Hughes. I’ve received half a dozen calls for him. Most have been people gushingly praising him. Some have offered legal and financial support. Others have asked for interviews. Perhaps I should have accepted the cash and given the interviews?

Anyhow, I do support the other Doug’s ideas. We need to get the influence of cash out of our government. Corporations are not people, cash is not free speech, etc, etc.

I recently got ahold of the other Doug’s email address. I’m going to see if he minds me forwarding on these messages, but for now it’s safe to assume that I’m not able to forward these messages.

Recently Chris Christie and Rand Paul made some comments supportive of the anti-vaxxer “movement”. This is really gives me pause.

These two are also both in the climate change denial camp. I always assumed that climate change denying politicians only did so because they receive money from climate change denying businesses, and/or pandering to the climate change denial demographic.

You see, I honestly picture politicians as being quite smart and savvy. (I’m not sure whether this is cynical or optimistic of me.) They have to be smart to weasel their way into power. It takes a degree of brilliance to convince the masses that something which is economically bad for them is actually somehow good for them. You’ve got to be sharp to pander effectively to a constituency without actually doing anything for them. You’ve got to be intelligent to find every way to increase your, your friends’, and your corporate overlord’s power and wealth without inciting the population to rise up with pitchforks and torches.

In other words, I have a hard time believing that politicians are actually dumb. I figured they actually believe in climate change, they just have a strong incentive to deny it and legislate against it. I figured they knew it was dumb to disallow scientists from advising the EPA.

But this anti-vaxxer situation makes me wonder if these politicians legitimately don’t understand science. Where’s the political advantage? The anti-vaxxer community can’t be nearly large enough to risk pandering to. And where’s the financial advantage? It’s not like Big Pharma is going to advocate for making less money.

Perhaps that’s it. If more people get sick with preventable illnesses they’ll be able to sell more medications, thereby making more profit? (Perhaps I need to make a tinfoil hat?) This doesn’t pass the smell test.

They only option I am left with is that these two politicians at least actually are scientifically illiterate. They must legitimately not understand the scientific method, how it is used test theories, find evidence, and draw conclusions. You can’t scientifically say that there is no climate change because it gets cold in winter. The evidence doesn’t match the theory.

If these two jackasses are representative of any significant portion of politicians, then we are all well and truly fucked. I for one, will require a lot of pandering to convince me it’s somehow good for me.